Kaitlyn D’Onofrio

DocwireNews

An active lifestyle is correlated with improving some fibromyalgia symptoms in women but not all, according to a study published in&nbsp;Arthritis Research &amp; Therapy. Physical activity was found to improve function, physical quality of life, and movement fatigue but did not positively impact&nbsp;lifestyle physical activity and pain, pain sensitivity, or psychological constructs.&nbsp;Researchers looked at 171 women aged between 20 and 70 years&nbsp;(mean age, 49.4 years; mean body mass index [BMI],&nbsp;34.4 kg/m2)&nbsp;diagnosed with fibromyalgia.&nbsp;Most women had received their diagnosis less than 10 years prior to the study.&nbsp;Participants self-reported their physical activity, and&nbsp;accelerometry&nbsp;was also used. Questionnaires were used to determine perceived physical function, quality of life, fatigue, pain intensity and interference, disease impact, pain catastrophizing, and fear of movement.&nbsp;The study authors controlled for age and BMI.&nbsp;<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-width="500" data-dnt="true">
Higher lifestyle physical activity levels improve function and fatigue but do not reduce pain in women with fibromyalgia (Merriwether et al, Arthritis Research &amp; Therapy 2018; 20:199)
&mdash; John (@johnwread) <a href="https://twitter.com/johnwread/status/1043764644081369088?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">September 23, 2018</a>
</blockquote><script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>Across age and BMI groups, lifestyle physical activity had the greatest association with certain physical function measures and fatigue. Conversely, low levels of physical activity were correlated with poorer functional outcomes and greater fatigue. Researchers did not observe relationships between exercise and pain, pain sensitivity, or pain-related psychological constructs.&nbsp;&nbsp;Researchers noted several limitations, one being that it was a cross-sectional study and therefore they could not determine causation. Additionally, researchers only tracked activity over a seven-day period, which may not be telling of habitual physical behavior. &ldquo;However, longer durations are not feasible for accelerometry and are likely to involve greater recall bias errors for self-report,&rdquo; the study authors noted. Finally, the study&nbsp;only included women with Numeric Rating Scale pain levels of at least four out of 10, which excludes men and anyone with an NRS pain rating under four.&nbsp;&ldquo;Clinically, these data support that increasing daily physical activity has the potential to improve function, improve physical QoL&nbsp;[quality of life], and reduce movement-evoked fatigue in this population,&rdquo; the study authors concluded.&nbsp;<a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/docwire-pick/cannabis-treatment-fibromyalgia/">Read about cannabis in the treatment of fibromyalgia here.</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://proddocwire.wpengine.com/rheumatology/sleep-disorders-and-fibromyalgia/">Read about sleep disorders and fibromyalgia here.</a>&nbsp;Source:&nbsp;<a href="https://arthritis-research.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s13075-018-1671-3">Arthritis Research &amp; Therapy</a>&nbsp;&nbsp;

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An active lifestyle is correlated with improving some fibromyalgia symptoms in women but not all, according to a study published in Arthritis Research &amp; Therapy. Physical ...

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